mp3: Deleted Scenes – “Fake IDs”

mp3: Julianna Barwick – “Choose”

Usually my “Critical Differences” feature takes a look at clashing reviews of the same record by multiple publications, but after reading Pitchfork‘s glowing review of Julianna Barwick’s beautiful debut ep today, I decided to take a bit of a different approach.

Everyone in the music industry knows what a juggernaut Pitchfork has become. There’s been a backlash, but the fact remains that if you’re an unknown band and Pitchfork loves your record, there’s a really good chance your entire future will change as a band. When Pitchfork drops that little “Best New Music” label on an album it usually blows up. Recent recipients like Bear in Heaven, Real Estate, The Antlers and Girls have seen massive changes in the attention their getting from fans, labels, venues and other publications. One minute they’re struggling to draw a crowd, dragging out their friends to see them, and the next minute everyone is begging to get listed and they’re selling out venues 5 times the size in cities far from home.

Many would agree that Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” label has been the key element in making indie stars out of Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, TV on the Radio, Animal Collective and many more of the elite bands of the indie world.

And with that power to giveth, they can also taketh away. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead once received the ultimate honor with a 10.0 score for 2002′s Source Tags and Codes, which shot them up the ranks of the indie music world. Only a few years later, follow-up Worlds Apart was trashed, receiving a 4.0. The next record So Divided was treated just as poorly. And while the negative Pitchfork reviews didn’t send them back to playing 100 capacity clubs in front of 5 people, it did do quite a bit of damage to the size of their fan base and how other publications, blogs, and venues treated them.

But this isn’t really about the effect of Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” label, it’s about Pitchfork’s decisions for what records actually get tagged as “Best New Music” in relation to the scores they receive.

I used to assume that if a record were to receive a certain score or higher, that would delegate the “Best New Music” label. For example, all records that have been labeled “Best New Music” have received an 8.0 or higher.

When Pitchfork gave Deleted Scenes’ excellent Birdseed Shirt an 8.0 early this year and it didn’t get the “Best New Music” tag, I assumed that they must have been just below the score needed. A tough break for a great band that’s still struggling to develop a larger fan base, but I didn’t look much into it.

Today, Pitchfork praised Julianna Barwick’s Florine and handed it an 8.2, but once again no “Best New Music” label. I felt there had definitely been other records this year with 8.2′s that Pitchfork gave its special stamp of approval, and after a quick look through the archives my suspicions were confirmed.

In 2009, the following records have been given the “Best New Music” stamp of approval:
Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP 8.9
Real Estate – Real Estate 8.5
Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth 8.4
Various Artists – 5: Five Years of Hyperdub 8.2
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport 9.0
Atlas Sound – Logos 8.2
Mountain Goats – Life Of The World to Come 8.4
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms 8.6
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic 9.0
The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa 8.6
The Memory Tapes – Seek Magic 8.3
Girls – Album 9.1
Volcano Choir – Unmap 8.3
Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II 8.8
Wild Beasts – Two Dancers 8.4
The xx – The xx 8.7
YACHT – See Mystery Lights 8.5
The Antlers – Hospice 8.5
Delorean – Ayrton Senna EP 8.4
jj – jj n° 2 8.6
Cass McCombs – Catacombs 8.2
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue 8.3
Sunset Rubdown -Dragonslayer 8.3
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm 8.5
Mos Def – The Ecstatic 8.0
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca 9.2
Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions 8.5
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 8.5
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest 9.0
Isis – Wavering Radiant 8.5
St. Vincent – Actor 8.5
Japandroids – Post-Nothing 8.3
Woods – Songs of Shame 8.3
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career 8.3
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle 8.1
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns 8.5
Fever Ray – Fever Ray 8.1
Dan Deacon – Bromst 8.5
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains 8.3
Wavves – Wavvves 8.1
Various Artists – Dark Was the Night 8.6
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart 8.4
Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light 8.6
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion 9.6

So, based on these findings, Julianna Barwick’s record should definitely be considered “Best New Music” as its’ score ranks higher than albums by Wavves, Mos Def, Fever Ray, and Bill Callahan. Deleted Scenes’ Birdseed Shirt is a borderline case ranking only even with Mos Def, but since scores should mean something, anything 8.0 or higher should be labeled “Best New Music.” If not, then Pitchfork is essentially stating that the scores they give albums are meaningless. It’s pretty simple logic.

Birdseed Shirt and Florine are not the only records that have seemingly scores that should guarantee the “Best New Music” tag, but finding more examples will take forever because finding 8.0 or higher records in their archives is far harder than finding albums considered “Best New Music.” This is exactly why it’s important. If readers missed the reviews of these 2 records on the days they were posted, there’s a good chance that they’ll never see them, but when an album gets tagged as “Best New Music” it lives on the front page for a while (homepage displays 3 most recent Best New Music albums). And when it’s gone from the homepage it can still be found rather easily in the special Best New Music archive.

Pitchfork should correct their mistake and place all records 8.0 or higher in Best New Music to fix their very clear problems of consistency.